Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Proconsul \Pro*con"sul\, n. [L., fr. pro for + consul consul.]
   (Rom. Antiq.)
   An officer who discharged the duties of a consul without
   being himself consul; a governor of, or a military commander
   in, a province. He was usually one who had previously been
   consul.

Source : WordNet®

proconsul
     n 1: an official in a modern colony who has considerable
          administrative power
     2: a provincial governor of consular rank in the Roman Republic
        and Roman Empire
     3: an anthropoid ape of the genus Proconsul